Arc suppressor for dielectric heating equipment



July 21, '1959 F. KOHLER 2,396,055

ARC SUPPRESSER FOR DIELECTRIC HEATING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 21. 1953 CONVENTIONAL OSCILLATOR VACUUM POWER TUBE I SUPPLY OSClLLATOR 1 1/, I I ,14

I I I I 15 j 13 TO GRID CONTROL km E CIRCUIT l ARC SUPPRESSOR POWER SUPPLY 26 it Ail'l'l'l 24 25 INVENTOR.

Fred Kohler BY ATTORNEY current of the oscillator.

'ciple. an are, from whatever cause, there is a drop in the direct current resistance of the thermoplastic from several :thousand megohms to a few megohms or even less.

United States Patent ARC SUPPRESSOR FOR DIELECTRIC HEATING EQUIPIVIENT Fred Kohler, New York, N.Y.

Continuation of application Serial No. 350,114, April 21, 1953, now Patent No. 2,763,758, dated September 18,1956. This application June 13, 1956, Serial No. 591,123

4 Claims. (Cl. 219-10.77)

My invention relates to dielectric heating equipment, and more particularly to an arc suppresser for high power, radio frequency dielectric heating apparatus used to bond thermoplastic materials, such as vinyl; and this application is a continuation of my application Ser. No. 350,114 filed April 21, 1953, now Patent No. 2,763,758.

Dielectric heating equipment for bonding thermoplastics is well known in the art. Two thin sheets (4 mils-20 mils) of thermoplastic material are sandwiched under pressure between first and second polished metallic electrodes to form a capacitance. A radio frequency mc-200 mc.), high power (0.1 kw.-5.0 kw.) oscillator supplies energy which is applied across this capacitance for a given period of time. Heat will be produced throughout the thermoplastic material due to the fact that it has a considerable power factor. This heat will be readily conducted away by the electrodes at the outer surfaces of the two sheets, but not at the interface thereof. Therefore, the temperature at the interface will rise to the melting point of the thermoplastic material allowing the fusing of the two sheets to take place.

Dielectric heating equipment is now being used to a great extent in the manufacture of shower curtains, inflatable toys, raincoats, etc., where mass production techniques are used.

From time to time, due to either a surge of energy or :a defect such as a pinhole in the thermoplastic material, .an arc is instituted between the electrodes, causing pitting thereof. before they can be used again. It will be seen that this .arcing acts as a bottle neck in the mass production tech- The electrodes must then be repolished niques employed by the industries using dielectric heating equipment.

The prior art recognized that arcing caused more power to be drawn, which was accompanied by a rise in plate Therefore, an overload relay was inserted in the oscillator for turning it off whenever the plate current exceeded a given value. This did not prevent arcing, but merely minimized the damage done to the electrodes thereby.

My invention works on an altogether different min- I have found that just prior to the institution of It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide 'a device which is responsive to the direct current resistance of the thermoplastic material being heated, and which renders the oscillator supplying the radio-frequency energy non-operating whenever the direct current :resistance of the thermoplastic material becomes lower than a given value.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a cir- =cuit which entirely suppresses arcing in the bond of thermoplastic materials by dielectric heating.

These and other objects of my invention will be better understood from the following description taken together with the accompanying drawing, which consists of a single figure showing a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Referring now to the figure, control circuit 10, which includes a timer and means for instituting a timlng;

period, is connected to both oscillator power supply 11v or a tuned-plate tuned-grid oscillator, etc., is energized by oscillator power supply 11 in the usual manner. The output of oscillator 12 is applied to load capacitance 13,v as shown. Load capacitance 13 is composed of electrode 14, which is connected to oscillator 12, electrode 15, which is grounded, and the thermoplastic material 16 to be bonded, which is interposed between electrodes 14 and 15. Control circuit 10, oscillator power supply 11, oscillator 12, and load capacitance 13 make up a conventional dielectric heater.

Arc suppresser power supply 17 has its positive terminal connected directly to anode 19 of thyratron 18. Cathode 22 and screen grid 20 of thyratron 18 are both grounded. The negative terminal of arc suppresser power supply 17 is connected to the grid of oscillator 12 through current limiting resistor 23.

Battery 24' has its positive terminal connected to ground and its negative terminal connected to one side of adjustable resistor 25. The other side of adjustable resistor 25 is connected to control electrode 21 of thyratron 18 through resistor 26. Battery 27 has its positive terminal connected to control electrode 21. The negative terminal of battery 27 is connected to the input of filter 28,- made up of resistor 29 and capacitors 30 and 31, as shown. The output of filter 28 is applied to electrode 14 through radio frequency choke 32.

In operation, oscillator power supply- 11 is energized only during the timing period of control circuit 10. Thus, neglecting my arc suppressing circuit, radio-frequency power from oscillator 12 will be supplied to load capacitance 13 during the entire extent of a timing period, in a manner well known in the art.

Arc suppresser power supply 17 is also energized only during the timing period of control circuit 10. However, the potential on control electrode 21 is normally maintained at a value sufficient to prevent the firing of thyratron 18, so that thyratron 18 acts as a normally open switch isolating arc suppresser power supply 17 from oscillator power supply 11.

Battery 24, resistances 25 and 26, battery 27, resistance 29, choke 32, and load capacitance 13 form a complete circuit, so that a direct current, determined by the total impedance of this circuit and the voltage magnitude of batteries 24 and 27, will flow therein. Control electrode 21 will, therefore, assume a negative potential relative to that of cathode 22 determined by the voltage magnitude of battery 24 minus the IR drop in resistors 25 and 26. Resistor 25 is adjusted to maintain the potential of control electrode 21 below the firing point of thyratron 18, as stated above. Since the direct current resistance of thermoplastic 16 is by far the largest resistance in this circuit, a sudden drop in the direct current resistance of thermoplastic 16, such as that which has been found to immediately precede arcing, causes a large increase in the current through the circuit. This increases the IR drop through resistors 25 and 26 proportionately, causing the potential on control electrode 21 to rise above the firing point, thus causing thyratron 18 to conduct. When thyratron 18 conducts, it acts as the closing of a switch effectively connecting the positive terminal of arc suppresser power supply 17 to ground. Since the negative terminal of oscillator power supply 11 is also connected to ground, the output of the two power supplies are effectively placed in series with each Patented July 21, 1959' other. Since the grid of oscillator 12 is connected to the negative terminal of arc suppresser power supply 17, it will be seen that the grid of oscillator 12 will, upon the firing of thyratron 18, assume a high negative potential. This high negative potential is suificient to cut otf oscillator 12. It is well known that once a thyratron is fired the control electrode thereof loses control until the anode potential thereof falls below the ionization potential. Therefore thyratron 18, once fired, will conduct until the end of the timing period.

Choke 32 and filter 28 are inserted to prevent any radio frequency potential on electrode 14 from reaching control electrode 21. Filter 28, however, has a time constant sufiiciently short to allow the potential on control electrode 21 to follow any drop in the direct current resistance of the thermoplastic 16, so that thyratron 18 always fires before any are can be formed.

It will be seen that the higher the voltage magnitudes of batteries 24 and 27 are, the more sensitive will be the operation of the arc suppresser circuit. creasing these voltage magnitudes, increases the direct current potential difference existing between electrodes 14 and 15. This potential difference itself, if too high, tends to produce arcing. Therefore the voltage magnitudes of batteries 24 and 27 are selected as a compromise between these two factors.

What is claimed is:

1. Dielectric heating apparatus comprising, in combination, a high frequency oscillator; a pair of electrodes connected to the output terminals of said oscillator for transfer of high frequency electric energy between said electrodes; a control circuit operable to impress a DC. potential across said electrodes; a resistance in series in said control circuit, the inter-electrode conductivity normally having a value such that only a very small DC. current flows through said resistance; a bias cir- However, in- I cuit including a source of DC. bias potential having its negative terminal connected to the control grid of said oscillator; a normally non-conductive electronic valve in said bias circuit; a control element for said valve connected in said control circuit and operable, responsive to an increase in the potential drop across said resistance resulting from increased current flow in said control circuit due to an increase in the inter-electrode conductivity, to render said valve conductive to apply, to the oscillator control grid, a negative bias sufiicient to cutoff the oscillator.

2. Dielectric heating apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said valve comprises a thyratron connected between the positive terminal of said bias potential and said oscillator, the thyratron control grid normally having a negative bias to render the thyratron nonconductive; such increase in the potential drop across said resistance biasing the thyratron control grid to a value rendering the thyratron conductive to apply the negative potential of said bias potential to the oscillator control grid.

3. Dielectric heating apparatus as claimed in claim 2 including an oscillator power supply; the thyratron connecting said power supplies in series.

4. Dielectric heating apparatus as claimed in claim 1 including an AC. filter in said control circuit between said resistance and said electrodes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,548,246 Walstrom Apr. 10, 1951 2,638,529 Gard May 12, 1953 2,763,758 Kohler Sept. 18, 1956 2,785,264 Gillespie et al Mar. 12, 1957 

